I pulled into the driveway, but before I could get out of the car and go to the door she came out. As I watched her walk toward the car I thought, and not for the first time, about how young, fresh, beautiful and innocent she looked. She opened the car door and slid in beside me, giving me a big beautiful smile:

"Let's go. You don't want to be late," she said as I put the car in reverse and backed out of her driveway.

Heading back to my house I considered the chain of events that ended up putting Ann on the seat next to me. My wife Brenda had been called away due to an illness in the family. She had only planned to be gone for three or four days, but two weeks had passed and she wasn't back yet. This had posed a small problem for me. The monthly poker game that was held at my place was going to take place before Brenda was going to get back. This meant that I would have no one to play the part of hostess, which meant, in turn, that I would not be able to play much because I would have to see to the refreshments, and in general, be a good host. I was moaning the blues about this to Herb when he said he might just have a solution to my problem. He was going back to Michigan to take care of some legal matters pertaining to his father's estate, but Ann was going to stay home. He said she would probably be glad to act as hostess for me just to give her something to do. He had mentioned it to her and she had called me and told me that she would love to do it.

By 7p.m. we had all the food prepared, the beer on ice, and the chips and dip put out. By 7:30 all the players had arrived and been introduced to Ann and had been warned to be on their best behavior - I didn't want to have to make any explanations to her husband.

By 8 the game was in full swing and I was looking forward to a good night as I had won three out of the first seven hands. The stakes were quarter, half, and dollar; a limit of three raises, and dealer names the game. I wasn't going to get rich, but it wasn't about the money anyway - it was about who would have the bragging rights at work next week. By 10 I was comfortably ahead and in that mood that good poker players learn to recognize and to control - where you think your luck is on a roll and you want to bet on everything. I was paying real close attention to my play so I wasn't aware that Ann had been drinking quite a bit and was getting pretty tipsy, but the other guys had noticed. By the time I found out what was going on, it was too late.

I had not been paying any attention to the comings and goings of the other guys because it was normal at our games for guys to get up, go take a whiz, and then come back, sit out a few hands and kibitz. It wasn't until about 11 that I got up to go to the bathroom and as I was passing by the bedroom door I thought that I heard some low moans so naturally I looked in. Ann was naked, lying on her back, legs spread and pointing at the ceiling and Mark was between them and fucking her for all he was worth. My first thought was:

"God, is Herb going to be pissed when he finds out" followed closely by, "Shit! This is all my fault. I should have been paying closer attention and done whatever needed to be done to keep this from happening."